Hey guys, it’s me again. Back with another Vintage recap. These things have been great so far and I hope you’re enjoying them, too.

— I’m in the process of moving right now so pardon last week. Moving is the worst and I want to kill everything I own with fire.

— I figured it’d be good to give weekly updates on where I am in the Network so you can keep up with my random tweets. So here goes: at around the 1998 mark, I got so fascinated by WCW becoming a car wreck that I abandoned WWF and just started watching WCW until its demise. I guess I’ll get to 1998 by 2016 or something so spoiler alert: WCW gets really bad really quickly. I can’t wait to recap those events…I may even skip ahead. Anyway, I’m currently at Great American Bash 99′. Basically I keep the Network on while I work as it’s mostly background noise so I move pretty fast. I just watched a match where Sting was attacked by dogs.

— Back to me moving: I’m going to be in Atlanta so definitely let me know what Indy shows are going on there and the wrestling scene. I’m definitely interested.

— Speaking of, read Danielle’s write-up on Chikara. I haven’t been to one of their shows but I want to with all my heart. Also, she makes Lil Boosie jokes in her Impact reviews so she’s the best.

Join The Discussion

I completely agree about how oddly compelling Death Throes-era WCW is. You should really do one of these for WCW “Sin” in 2001 – sure, the whole PPV is pretty much garbage from start to finish, but I really feel like an extended conversation needs to be had about how in the hell you let Sid lie on the mat for 10 minutes after he’s just snapped his entire lower leg in half.

“Sure, we should stop the match and get that guy some help, but then people will miss the BIG REVEAL of Road Warrior Animal!”

I feel like a lot of the legends that come back so often get that wrap. Foley was my absolute favorite of WWF at the time and still one of my all time favorites because of matches like the one against Shawn Michaels. Before they had him use a sock to the mouth as a finisher, the guy could put on top rate matches consistently.

If I had to make a list of my favorite / the best HBK matches, this match with Mankind is the first one that would come to mind, before I spent any time thinking of others. I always preferred Michaels as a heel, so it was awesome to see him sneering and acting like a badass again. I even remember a pre-match promo, where he was much cockier than he’d been up to that point during his face run, and warned Mankind “Don’t hunt what you can’t kill.” Fifteen-year-old me definitely marked out for that.

I’d totally forgotten about the Pillman/Austin/Owen segment, but I remember loving Austin’s (s)Hitman promo. I used to record the PPVs we ordered, and I think this was probably one of the tapes I rewatched the most, for the HBK/Mankind match, and this promo. …Oh, and for all the footage I could get of Sunny.

Seriously, these retro reviews are doing more to sell me on the Network than anything WWE has done. Keep up the good work.

That Mankind/HBK match is really great, even with the stupid DQ finish. It’s also worth pointing out that when Sid shows up to chase Vader to the back, he seems to have forgotten how to throw a punch like a normal person. He fights Vader off with 2 or 3 of the most awkward looking punches I have ever seen, it’s weird.